Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel. Rev. ed.

Pauline Carey is an actor, playwright and librettist, and author of the
children’s books Magic and What’s in a Name?

In the 1970s, Maracle wrote an abrasive account of her early years as a
Native woman in Vancouver, California, and Toronto. It was written in a
rough and direct style, it bristled with the anger of adolescence and
with hatred for white people, and it had the immediacy of pain. But in
the midst of the apathy and the drifting, the drinking and the drugs,
Bobbi Lee recalled her grandfather’s advice that she be useful in her
life. She became involved in Native politics.

The book has now been reprinted with some extra material. Preliminary
pages introduce us to the woman that Maracle is today, and was last year
at the Oka Peace Camp. Then comes the original story, as recorded from a
fierce oral telling. Finally and wonderfully, the author continues her
story in an epilogue, but now she speaks with the voice of one who can
lead and inspire others.

These last pages are a moving reminder that children who appear to be
lost at home, or who run hopeless on our streets, may yet become adults
who can be useful in their lives.